Godless Games 2008
The Chinese government has decided that the world’s athletes are atheists – or will be during the 2008 Beijing Games. Organizers for the 2008 Olympics in China have released their list of items banned from the Olympic village where the athletes will stay. Amongst the Prohibited Items is The Bible. The athletes are also to be forbidden to wear or carry any kind of religious symbol at Olympic facilities.
Where do these freaks get off telling people they can’t bring religious texts and symbols to the Olympic village? Could someone explain to me why the world is letting the godless Evil Old Men in Beijing host the Olympics?
NOTE: This post was edited on Nov 8th, 2007. The original content is presented in the comments below to preserve the relevance of previous comments.
Tags: 2008 Olympics | China | Religion
November 7th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Well, I wouldn’t broad brush ALL the Chinese this way! Remember Tianamen Square? Also a number of Religious faiths continued to practice even during the “Cultural Revolution.”
This might just tee off enough of the Chinese where they’ll change the thing themselves.
Old Chinese saying, “Don’t mess with the peseants from up north!” (j/k)
November 7th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Is the Koran also banned? If it is, then I’d be surprised that they’re willing to risk a terrorist attack from extremists. If it is not banned, then that would be one big proof of religious discrimination.
November 7th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
If I were an athlete, I would not compete in light of the ban. It’s one thing to proselytize; it’s quite another to draw inner strength from your personal convictions; if one is kept from being able to draw upon a religious text in the privacy of one’s hotel accommodations, then one is being entirely discriminated against and it could be argued is being hampered from competing at full capacity.
I, too, am curious if all religious texts are banned or if it is simply the Bible that is being banned. And by “religious symbol” does that include crucifixions worn round the neck?
November 8th, 2007 at 12:57 am
About the time you wrote “godless yellow monkeys’ you lost any credibility in complaining about discrimination.
November 8th, 2007 at 10:44 am
Pat,
You are correct I suppose in your sentiment, though I am doubtful that I should be expected to make any more distinction between a people and the government it allows to rule than others do concerning Americans.
The bloodbath that was the peasant uprising you’re referring to as the âCultural Revolutionâ left a few religious institutions in place. Though they have to receive special licensing and must acquire the religious texts from the state – and only in government redacted forms.
Dr. Engr. & Christy,
I’ve been wondering about that as well. I can find no reference to any other holy book accept the Bible being banned, but the ban on all religious symbols implies that the Qur’an would be banned as well. On the other hand Islam is non-hierarchal in structure so the Chinese government has had less problems with it – well since the 1970’s at least.
opit,
To achieve a strong response it is sometimes necessary to use strong language. Also you might want to think about the specifics of bigotry when it comes to creditability; a racist may well still be in favor of freedom of religion. This all being said, I have modified the original post since yourself, Pat and several others who commented via email rather than the blog had similar sentiments. I will be preserving the original content in a comment below.
All,
Thank for for stopping by and thank you for your opinions đ
November 8th, 2007 at 10:48 am
FYI,
Do to some concerns about the “credibility” of this post in it’s original form because the the nature of my statements I have modified the post in order to not dilute its message. I have preserved the original content below in order to maintain the relevance of some of the comments above.
November 9th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
To not draw a clear distinction between a government and its people is a serious mistake in any culture. Look no further than the corrupt and crime ridden White House that is currently responsible for another bloodbath. And the American people have been allowing that for years. They also allow their representatives in Congress to do absolutely nothing about it. But, the American people are not criminals themselves (as a group). Instead, their “crime” is that are much more concerned with Monday night football and not missing the Simpsons than they are with what current population is being slaughtered in the name of freedom.
As far as the banning of the Bible – I agree that it is insane to allow China to host the Olympic games as it is so adverse to everything the Olympics stand for. They got that honor of course, because human rights records and executions and religious oppression have nothing to do with the decision making process. China is a nation of literally billions of potential consumers and also supplies a great deal of the goods we all love to buy and use. China is powerful because the rest of the world makes them so through trade.
But no matter the reason, once China got the go ahead for the Olympics, I think they, like any other country, should be able to set the rules. When in Rome and all that. Just because the US or Europe is largely Christian does not give them the right to tell China what to allow or not allow. So in answer to your question Jonolan… “where do these freaks get off telling people they canât bring religious texts and symbols to the Olympic village?”…they can tell people that because that Olympic Village sits within the boundaries of their sovereign nation, and unlike some countries that let the US dictate thier politics, China doesn’t give a fuck what anyone else wants for it to do, nor should they. The US certainly would not tolerate any other country trying to dictate or political policy, now would it.
If the world does not like what they are doing, then don’t send athletes to the Olympics. Trust me, if countries threatened to pull out, especially high visibility countries like the US, Germany, UK, etc, China would come in line because they could not stand to lose the “face”.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Brian,
Not making the distinction between a government and it’s people is an especially serious mistake in the case of China since the government isn’t elected by it’s people.
The way I see it at least half the US people are responsible for the mistakes of government especially when they re elect the same people despite the mistakes. You can’t take the benefits of democracy without sharing responsibility.
November 22nd, 2007 at 8:24 pm
for one, i’m pretty chill with the idea china bans whatever the f*ck it wants to ban. hell, if i host a game in my home and you’re the guest and i want you to take your shoes off, i don’t care if you wear nike, converse, reebok, or prada leather boots, you take those god damn shoes off in my house! and that’s the end of the story. peace out. holy sh*t, i get down on my knees and kiss the glorious chinese for standing up to the rest of the world and giving them something back.
November 22nd, 2007 at 8:28 pm
jonolan uses the term “godless yellow monkey”…..ghost dawg uses the term “f@#k you!”
Note: edited slightly by jonolan to ameliorate profanity.
November 23rd, 2007 at 10:48 am
ghost dawg,
Well, you did take the time to read not only my post but the comments as well; that’s something in this day and age. Sadly, you’d prefer to kowtow to Communist China – or at least their leaders in Beijing – because you seem to think they’re right to violate all the agreements they made with the rest of the world in order to be allowed to host the Olympics.
Is they’re something about China’s totalitarian regime that you like? Is it just that you hate America that much?